Xizor
Xizor (pronounced /shē'zōr/) was a Falleenian male Prince of House Sizhran and the leader of the powerful criminal organization Black Sun during the Galactic Civil War. Xizor was a ruthless competitor and charismatic public figure in high society with his headquarters on the planet Coruscant. Close to the Imperial Palace, but less splendid, was Xizor's Palace; his home outside Falleen. Following the Battle of Hoth, Xizor was considered one of the most influential beings in the galaxy, on a par with Emperor Cosimo Palpatine II and Darth Vader, due to his exceptional wealth and influence through his criminal activities. Biography Early life Xizor was born the scion of a wealthy royal family on Falleen. Head of Xizor Transport Systems and already a trillionaire during the last decades of the Old Republic, his extravagant tastes were evident from an early age. He made his presence known on the planet of Coruscant by erecting an enormous palace in the middle of the cityscape, east of the Presidential Palace. The massive undertaking required the former Farfalla skyscraper razed down to its subfoundations. Xizor had already climbed high in the ranks of the Black Sun criminal organization by the time of the Second Clone War, during which Black Sun almost fell apart because of a bota regulation deal with the Jabba the Hut falling apart. He patiently waited out galaxy-wide conflict. When the war concluded, Xizor quickly began to create a close relationship with newly christened Emperor Cosimo Palpatine I and the rest of the Imperial family. Family tragedy After the rise of Emperor Cosimo Palpatine II, Falleen was home to a biological weapons laboratory that worked on secret projects for Darth Vader. In 7 BBY, a flesh-eating bacterial agent was accidentally released from the bioweapons lab, causing Vader to order the lab, and the surrounding city, to be razed to prevent an outbreak and keep his projects secret. Xizor's father, King Haxim, was the ruler of the local region, and his parents, brother, two sisters and three uncles perished in the orbital bombardment. Xizor was off-planet at the time, cementing his position as a Vigo in Black Sun. Upon his return, he had virtually all knowledge of his position destroyed and had plastic surgery done to make himself look like a Falleen Augment in order to hide his heritage. He planned revenge on Vader but didn't want knowledge of his personal vendetta made public. In the years that followed, Xizor built two concurrent empires: one legitimate, one criminal. Xizor emerged as the leader of Black Sun and the proprietor of several major galactic corporations. To fund and facilitate his illegal empire, Xizor had his legal firms, such as Xizor Transport Systems, funnel funds, transfer contraband and launder millions of credits. Xizor was driven by his desire to restore his opulent lifestyle and to destroy Darth Vader. To disguise his planned revenge, Xizor used his connections to remove all record of Vader's involvement in the death of his family. Everyone assumed their rivalry was jockeying for favor from Emperor Palpatine, who subtly encouraged the rivalry. The Falleenian Prince ordered himself a personal craft, the Virago, which was a custom heavily modified StarViper Assault Fighter, made just for him. Upon completion, Xizor purchased all rights to the fighter, ensuring it was unique. Criminal politics Xizor took a great deal of interest in dealing with other crime lords to expand Black Sun's power to even greater levels. The occasion for this was presented to him by the conflict between the two rival clans, Besadii and Desilijic, between 5 and 2 BBY. When Aruk the Hut, head of Besadii clan, was assassinated by his rivals from Desilijic, Xizor offered his assistance to Aruk's heir, Durga; he offered to kill off Durga's rivals within the kajidic, ensuring a smooth transition of power, in exchange for his cut of the profits in Besadii's spice enterprise on Ylesia. Later on, he also provided Durga with security for Ylesia, by offering him the services of a private security company that normally worked with Black Sun; again, Durga agreed, and in exchange offered Xizor an even greater share of the Ylesian enterprise. When a Rebel strike team destroyed Ylesia anyway, Durga was left with little to no resources, and subsequently became one of Xizor's vigos, one of many subordinates in the Black Sun organization. Even after the "acquisition" of Besadii, Xizor also had dealings with Jabba the Hut, head of Desilijic, with Jabba addressing him in Basic, a very rare concession from a Hut. In the end, Xizor had succeeded in extending Black Sun's power far into the Outer Rim, while eliminating the threat of serious competition. In the galactic underworld, Black Sun was a power without equal. Xizor also worked with the Assembler, Kud'ar Mub'at to bring about the destruction of the Bounty Hunters' Guild. The goal was to create a supply of freelance bounty hunters for the Empire. However, he only succeeded in splitting the Guild into two warring factions. At one point, he tried and failed to wrest control of Kuat Drive Yards from Kuat of Kuat. Wrath of Xizor Shortly after the Subjugation of Bespin, Xizor worked with the Empire, assisting in the construction of the second and third. Xizor offered Darth Vader 300 ships for the construction project, and though Vader distrusted the crime lord, he could not refuse without answering to the Emperor's wrath. Vader had good reason to distrust Xizor, however. The Falleen planned to destroy Vader, the man who had condemned his entire family to death, by executing a masterstroke of vengeance. Learning of Vader's quest for Luke Skywalker, Xizor attempted to frustrate it and simultaneously lower Vader in the Emperor's esteem by having the young Skywalker killed. Xizor had Guri contact several bounty hunters through intermediaries, and posted a bounty on Skywalker's life. He also managed to convince Palpatine to allow the Rebel Alliance to get a hold of the plans for the second Death Star. He could profit from this in one of two ways: he could deliver the Rebels to Palpatine, therefore earning esteem with him if the Empire won—or if the Alliance did win the war, Xizor would make sure they didn't forget the Black Sun's invaluable contribution to their victory. Upon learning that a smuggler named Dash Rendar was moving supplies for the Rebel Alliance while providing transport for a swoop racer Kimmi Chyler, Xizor ordered his Black Sun agents to investigate the activities, so that he could reveal them to the Emperor. He even dispatched Guri to confront Rendar directly in Kor Vella, though the smuggler managed to escape the Human replica droid. For the final swoop race of the season at the Mos Espa Race on Tatooine Xizor Transport Company had provided several large luxury sand barges from which spectators could watch the race. Xizor himself had come to witness the event from his personal barge, with Guri at his side. By doing so, the Falleen hoped to lure Luke Skywalker onto his barge, where Skahtul could lay a trap for him. However, the Barabel hunter failed to subdue the young Jedi and Skywalker had escaped. Xizor Transport Systems was also looking to sponsor a swoop racing team and following the race Xizor held a party, to which Kimmi Chyler was invited. Guri was also in attendance with her master but refrained from confronting Rendar at the party. During the party she chatted with the Falleenian and became influenced by his pheromones, which caused her to develop a short-lived attraction to him. After the party, Xizor and Guri followed Chyler, Rendar and their bodyguard to a nearby cantina where Rendar was delivering a datapad with important information to Luke Skywalker. Xizor ordered Guri to kill the group and to take the datapad, but Skywalker and the others put up a strong defense. Finally, the Black Sun prince gave up and ordered Guri to leave, promising to expose all information about Rendar - and more importantly Skywalker - to the Emperor. The fall of Xizor's Palace Soon after Luke's escape from the Barabel mercenaries, Skywalker, Dash Rendar, Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian infiltrated Xizor's massive Coruscant palace in order to rescue Leia, who had gone to the palace to get to the bottom of the attempts on Luke's life. Xizor confronted the group during their escape, attempting to kill Skywalker himself. A standoff ensued when the young Jedi pulled a thermal detonator rigged to a dead man's switch; if Skywalker died, Xizor would die too. Calrissian threw another thermal detonator down a garbage chute, set on a five-minute delay, and the Rebels escaped to the palace's roof where the ''Millennium Falcon was waiting for them. Xizor escaped in the Virago and fled to his orbiting skyhook, seething as his expensive palace collapsed to the ground under the thermal detonator's blast. Death Xizor wasn't finished, however. He ordered his StarViper fighters to fire on the Millennium Falcon. Leebo had gotten a message to Rogue Squadron who arrived to help the fleeing Rebels out, but the true turning point came from an unlikely source: the Empire. During a communication with his skyhook, Xizor made the fundamental error of muttering Skywalker's name in his instructions to destroy a YT-1300 light freighter despite being warned by Vader not to go after him. Instead of being able to claim he was after a group of renegades flying a YT-1300 freighter, he had made things personal. As the Emperor was away, Vader was in command of Coruscant. He was aboard the Executor when the fateful message was intercepted and ordered his TIE Fighters to attack Xizor's StarVipers. Vader sent a holo-message to Falleen's Fist ordering Xizor to cease his attack immediately and surrender into Vader's custody. As the seconds ticked away, Vader listened to communications from the skyhook and the commander of Xizor's fleet who was begging to be allowed to surrender until his ship was destroyed. There was no answer from Xizor and when time was up, Vader gave the order to destroy the skyhook. It was unknown whether or not Xizor slipped away from the battle as communications from the skyhook fell silent before its destruction although the Prince never made an appearance again. Regardless, after Xizor's "death," his niece Savan took control of Black Sun, which underwent a civil war and at least one offshoot - Black Nebula. As of 43 ABY, there were still rumors among the Jedi that Xizor was somehow alive; however, they were quickly debunked. Personality and traits Xizor was known for his dashing good looks, and hard-won experience combined with the arrogance of a natural leader. According to Moff Fliry Vorru, Xizor relied too much on his ability to read others. Whereas it was true that he was an excellent judge of character, he did believe himself to be inherently superior to everyone. The Falleenian ability to produce intoxicating pheromones together with his formidable brain and resourcefulness backed up his claim somewhat. He did underestimate the power of the Force which was why Vader and Skywalker were able to get the better of him. He knew the Force existed and respected it but never truly understood it. Vader once Force Gripped him during a three-way conversation with the Emperor, but Palpatine told Vader to put him down, knowing the strength of Xizor's organization would prove to be a valuable ally. He also considered himself a cultured man. He did appreciate High Coruscanti living, dining at exclusive restaurants, eating Moonglow three or four times a month at the most exclusive restaurant on Coruscant, the Manarai, where he was a part-owner, sponsoring museums and galleries. He once forgave a rival after the rival presented him an extremely rare miniature Firethorn tree. Such a gift, Xizor mused, was enough to show him that the man was civilized and therefore his mistake could be forgiven. Xizor also prided himself on his emotional control, which he attributed to his cold-blooded, reptilian ancestry. He felt that mammalian races such as Humans were too easily ruled by their emotions, and that in particular they were susceptible to uncontrolled rage. His own "cold" anger was more controllable, and thus, he felt, superior. While a Human might seek immediate vengeance, Xizor was content to plan his revenge carefully, so as to ensure success, even if it required waiting for years to implement the plan. However, while Xizor's anger built up slowly, in the end it was the very uncontrolled rage he believed himself immune to that doomed him. Xizor kept himself in top physical condition. He disliked tedious exercise and so preferred to use myostim units that exercised individual muscles. Xizor was dangerous even when confronted alone. His excellent marksmanship and martial arts training made him a deadly opponent whether he was armed or not. Relationships Romances Generally a fan of the short-term relationship, Xizor naturally was quick to terminate his intimate relations, usually with large compensation to the female, other times with a green diamond pendant. He followed a strict no post-relationship contact policy, which on at least one noted occasion, he had to terminate the woman when she attempted to contact him again. Guri When he was between relationships, Xizor was known to occasionally sleep with Guri as she was fully female even in that respect. Leia Organa Solo Xizor also became enamored of Leia Organa and attempted to seduce her. As with his other schemes, this backfired dramatically. He used his pheromones upon her and for a while, Leia submitted to the scent. However, after Chewbacca brought her back to her senses, she quickly rebuffed his advances by kneeing him in the groin, leaving an enraged Xizor to lock her up. Appearances *''Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire'' }} Notes and references Category:Males Category:Inhabitants of Falleen Category:Nobility Category:Business owners and executives Category:Vigos Category:House Sizhran Category:Agents of the Galactic Empire Category:Falleenian